Zachary Wasserman
My primary interests include technology since the industrial revolution, political economy and 20th century international history. I am particularly interested in understanding the relationships between structural circumstances – like global communications systems and monetary regimes – and the formulation and implementation of national security strategies. Subsidiary historical interests include comparative industrialization, the rise of modern China, mass production, ‘modernization’ theory and industrial decline.
The Postindustrial Superpower: Information Technology and the Decline and Resurgence of American Power, my dissertation, relates technology to the fate of American power during the Cold War. During the decade of retrenchment and soul-searching that followed the American withdrawal from Vietnam, the ‘information revolution’ redefined the instruments and symbols of the industrial Cold War. My research explores how these changed material circumstances shaped the end of the Cold War, and why the United States emerged as the first postindustrial great power in history.
Before coming to Yale, I worked as Managing Director of an international specialty steel firm. I hold a BSFS from Georgetown University, and a MA in International Relations from Yale. I was a fellow with the Global Governance 2020 project between 2010-2011.
